Golf club



July 4, 1933- A. E. BUHRKE Er A1. 1,916,963

GOLF CLUB Filed Sept. 26, 1930 Patented duly Ll, i933 Partnr oralesALFRED E. BUI-IRRE AND ALLEN F. HEETERQOF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, .ASSIGNORST It. H. BUHRKE COMPANY, A CGRECRATION OF ILLINOIS GOLF CLUB Applicationfiled September 28, 1930. Serial No. 484,534.

The invention relates to the novel and improved construction of golfclubs and has for its primary object to provide novel and. 1mprovedmeans for securing hollow, tubular,

5 metallic shaftsin the hosel openings in the Shanks of iron type golfclubs that shall be simple, economical and effective.

In the manufacture of .the iron headed type of golf club, the headertool of the club is v ordinarily provided with an yintegral shank orneck portion bored to have a longitudinal hosel opening for thereception of the shaft carrying a handle portion at its outer extremity.i y Our invention is directed to new and improved means foreifectivelyand permanently locking tubular, metallic shafts in the hosel openingsof iron headed clubs but dispensing with the use of transverse pins orrivets as heretofore used which, besides being unsatisfactory inappearance and making it difficultfto give the shankof the club auniform, finished appearance, are the cause of frequent breakages'due tocrystallization developed in the shaft ofthe clubon account of weaknessdeveloped at the point where the shaft is bored.

Other objects of the invention will appear from the followingldescription directed to the preferred embodiments thereof as shown inthe drawing .which forms a part of the specification, the novel featuresbeing set forth in the appended claims.

. In the said drawing:

Fig.v l is anv elevation view of anordinary iron headedtypeof golf clubprovided with a tubular steel shaft with a handle at the outer endthereof and illustrates the appearance of the completed club embodyingour invention.

Fig. 2 is a broken, longitudinal, sectional view illustrating' detailsof construction at the union of the head and shaft of the club where theinvention is employed.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 3-3 of 2 looking inthe direction indicated by the arrows. T his view discloses in greaterdetail theshape of the locking wedge7 triangular in cross section, asemployed in the form of thel invention shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 7.

Fig. i is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the use of a locking deviceof the modified form of Fig. 6 in which the locking device 55 issubstantially square or rectangular` in cross section as shown moreclearly in the sectional view Fig. 5, which is taken on the line 5 5 ofFig. 4l, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

The reference character 10 designates the metallic head of an ordinaryiron headed golf club and l1 is the shank or neck portion thereofprovided with a central longitudinal hosel opening adapted to take thelower end of the handle shaft 12 which is formed of tubular steel and ispreferably slightly tapered or reduced in its diameter in a uniformmanner from its outer end to its lower end where it is secured in thehead or tool portion of the club.

The neck or shank il, which is integral with the club head, willordinarily be formed of metal such as a drop forging or die casting andfor proper balancing purposes7 the 75. neck or shank portion 11 isusually tapered so that it gradually enlarges outwardly from the clubhead and we prefer to extend the shank beyond the larger portion,designated at 13, and make it conical in shape, reducing 8 it in amanner to make. it at the eXtreme outer end as indicated at la, Figs. land 2, only a little larger than the diameter of the tubular steel shaft12 at that point.y

The neck or shank ll at the head will be provided with the usual bore orhosel to receive the lower end of the tapering tubular steel. shaft l2and when the parts are thus prepared and ready for assembly, the tubularshaft l2 will have preferably a firm drive lit 90 in the hosel openingand if the shaft is in the position of the parts as illustrated in Figs.

2 and il, one of the forms of locking` devices as shown in Figs. 6 and 7will be introduced in the larger and outer end of the tubular shaft andwill be passed downwardly to the lower end of the shaft.

The invention requires that the locking devices, veither triangular incross section as shown in Fig." 7 or square or rectangular as 100 shownin Fig. 6 and designated by the reference characters 15 and 16respectively, shall be constructed so that they shall properlyco-operate with the lower end of the tubular steel shaft after it isdriven into the hosel in a manner to force the material of the shaftoutwardly and preferably cause some penetration of the material of theshaft into the vsurrounding hosel wall as more clearly illustrated inFig. 3v where the triangular locking device 15 is shown crowding the`material in 'the wall of a tubular steel shaft at 1S into the materialof the neckor shank 11 on the inside of the hosel opening.'

The same result is accomplished with the use of the locking device 1G,rectangular in cross section, ras illustrated in Fig.4 5 where thematerial of the tubular shaft 12 is shown as driven outwardly andpenetrating the inner hosel wall 11 as indicated by the referencecharacter 19,

W'e find the best results are `obtained'in the use of drawn steeltubular shafts 12 where the metal in the shanks 11 is somewhat softerthan the steel of the shaft so that considerable penetration of theoutwardly forced portions 18 and 19 of thev shaft 12 will take place. y

The clearance diameters of the locking devices 15 and 1G 'mustr becarefully ygauged so that they will pass freely down the interior 0f thetubular shaft 12 to a point well within the hosel opening before anysubstantial forcing or driving is required'as it is desired that the.tubular shaft shallnot be deformed above the point of ofthe head. o

le `find that the best results may be se# cured by the utilization ofmetal that may be hardened after being formed into the shape of thelocking devices 15 and 1G as shown in Figs. 7 and 6 respectively andthey must, in fact, be made of materialy harder than the steel of theshaft in order to assure the desired deformation and subsequentpenetra,- tion of the walls of the steel shaft whenthe shank of the clubhead is of the requisite material to permit the desiredpenetration andlocking effect.

Another important feature of our invention,i although not a necessaryrequisite in the construction of the locking devices 15 and 16, residesin our discovery that the best results inlproducing the desiredpenetration of the outwardly forced walls of the shaft into the materialof the hosel walls is attained by making the locking devices 15 and 16of a slightly tapered form, or in the form of a frustum of a pyramid,and then inserting the'larger ends of these locking devices first l intothe open ends of the shafts so that the enlarged ends thereof willfinally rest at the vbottom of the hosel opening adjacent the lowery endof the tubular shaft resulting in its union with ther shank a greaterundercut or locking effect in the joint secured as herein described.

7e find that our improved club construction results in a union betweenthe tubular steel shaft'and the club head which will not separate underthe most severe usage without a failure in the material of the steelshaft and the construction of the locking joint is such that the shankof the club head may be `finished by polishing or plating in a uniformmanner without exposing the vuse of ang,Y transverse pins or rivets thatare liable to be displaced or result in a weakness in the shaft at theVpoint of its securement in the shank of the club head.

' In order that the invention might be understood we have described indetail the preferred embodiments thereof but it is not de sired to belimited to the precise details except as set forth in the appendedclaims.

le claim 1. In a golf club, the combination with a metallic head portionprovided with an integrally formed hosel and having a hosel sockettherein, a tubular metallic shaft adapted to co-operate with said hosel'opening, and a locking device angular in cross section on the' interiorof said shaft within the hosel opening and being adapted when driventhereinto to force the material in the walls of the tubular shaftoutwardly to tend to conform to the cross sectional angular shape of thelocking device and to causethe material of the tubular shaft thusdistorted Y lhead portion, and a locking device, angular in crosssection, to provide a plurality of relatively sharp edges, adapted, whenforced into the tapered extremity of said shaft within the said hoselsocket of the head portion, by a wedging action, to expand thematerialin-the walls of the said tubular shaft outwardly-toy conform to therelatively sharp edges of the locking device and cause the sametopenetrate the walls on the interior of the. hosel socket'. f

3. The herein described method of securing one end of a tapered tubularmetallic shaft in the usual hosel opening in the shank of a metallicgolf club head, which consists in forcibly expanding the walls of thetubular shaft Within the hosel-opening'by inserting a hardened metallicmember with relatively sharp radial edges on the inside of the tubularshaft and driving the same down into that portion of the shaft Withinthe hosel opening to cause portions of the walls of the iti tubularshaft to penetrate the metallic Walls of the hosel into permanentlocking engagement therewith.

il. The herein described method of securing a tapered tubular shaft,formed of relatively hard and firm metal, in the hoeel opening of ametallic golf club head, formed of a softer metal than the metal of thesaid shaft, which consists in expanding the Walls of the said Shaft at aplurality of locations on the interior of the hosel opening by ahardened metallic plug angular in cross Section inserted on the interiorof the shaft, and to cause the said expanded portions of the shaft Wallsto penetrate the interior (zo-operating Wall of the hosel of the clubhead and to he permanently held in said angularly eX- panded andpenetrating relation for interlocking with the Wall of the hotel.

5. ln a golf clulo the combination with a metallic head portion providedWith an integrally formed hosel and having a hosel socket therein whichis of largest diameter at its entrance opening with a graduallydecreasing taper toward the striking blade of the head portion toreceive one end of a tuhular metallic shaft provided with a handle andbeing tapered at the end thereof opposite said handle to co-operate Withsaid tapered socket in the hosel of the head portion7 the material ofthe said metallic shaft 1neing relatively harder than the material ofthe metallic head portion of the club, and a metallic locking deviceformed of tempered steel harder than the material of the tubularmetallic shaft. and being angular in cross section to provide aplurality of relatively sharp radial edges adapted when forced into thetapered extremity of said shaft Within the said hotel socket of the headportion through the handle end of the shaft by a Wedging action toexpand the material in the Walls of the Said tubular Shaft to conformsuhstantially to the relatively sharp edges of the said metallic lockingdevice and cause the eamo to penetrate the Walls on the interior of thehosel socket.

ln testimony whereof, We have hereunto subscribed our names September,A. D. 1930.

ALFRED E. BUHRKE. ALLEN F. HEETER.

